Relationships are good for your health

Being married or in a long-term relationship improves your ability to deal
with stress, a new study suggests.

Researchers found that when people in a couple are put under pressure they produce fewer stress related hormones than their single counterparts.

Scientists found students given tests they believed would affect their career prospects had much less of the stress hormone cortisol flowing through their bodies if they had a partner.

Cortisol is released when the body is stressed and is part of its "fight or flight" reaction to danger. It is seen as a measure of how stressed someone feels.

"What we found is that marriage has a dampening effect on cortisol responses to psychological stress – and that is very new," Professor Dario Maestripieri, the lead researcher, said.

The finding may go some way towards explaining previous studies that have shown married people live longer and have less heart disease and other health problems.

Prof Maestripieri, whose findings are published in the journal Stress, said: "These results suggest single and unpaired individuals are more responsive to psychological stress than married individuals, a finding consistent with a growing body of evidence showing that marriage and social support can buffer against stress."

His researchers got 500 students – almost half of whom were married or in relationships – to play a series of economic computer games which were said to be part of their exams.

Saliva samples were taken before and after to measure hormone levels and changes.

Each student was told that the test was a course requirement, and it would impact their future career placement to create a high pressure situation that would affect levels of cortisol.

Concentrations of the hormone increased in all participants – particularly among the women.

But a piece of personal information collected beforehand provided another interesting difference within the subjects.

Prof Maestripieri, of Chicago University, said: "We found unpaired individuals of both sexes had higher cortisol levels than married individuals.

"Although marriage can be pretty stressful, it should make it easier for people to handle other stressors in their lives."

The study found single students also displayed higher testosterone levels than their married or committed colleagues – a finding that mirrors previous human research as well as animal observations.

Prof Maestripieri, who conducts most of his research on monkeys in Puerto Rico, said species of primates and birds show similar changes where males assist females with rearing.

In species that show monogamous pairing and shared rearing of offspring, testosterone levels in males drop as they engage in more fatherly behaviour.

This latest study mirror figures released by the Office for National Statistics that showed married couples live longer and enjoy better health.

ONS figures found that widowed men and single mothers suffered the worst health, with the greatest number of acute and chronic conditions.

The mortality rate for single men aged between 30 and 59 two and half times higher than those who are married.

Wives with children are also the healthiest of their gender, a sharp contrast to single mothers who have a greater chance of developing a long-term illness.